


When all the ghosts and UFOs dissaperaed

by animx_intro_mp4



Category: Toradora!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:08:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animx_intro_mp4/pseuds/animx_intro_mp4
Summary: Alternate ending for Toradora. It is sad just a warning/
Relationships: Kushieda Minori/Takasu Ryuuji
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	When all the ghosts and UFOs dissaperaed

I stand in the hotel lobby staring anxiously out the window. It's pitch black outside and the snow is heavy. I hear the cries of Kawashima as her friends, Kihara and Nanako attempt to comfort her however she's calmer than the now crying Kihara. I don't know where Kushieda is. She was there when we were telling the homeroom teacher that Taiga went missing and when they got to the hotel to send out a search team but after that, she disappeared. Right now, I'm too focused on Taiga. One minute she was there watching and trying to stop Kushieda and Kawashima fighting the next she's gone. It doesn't add up. I glance away from the window for a second, quickly acknowledging my surroundings. Kitamura is now pacing up and down, lost in thought. He approaches the window and gazes out with me. He sighs.  
'The lodge has their staff out there searching for her. If they can't find her, they'll call the police.' He says.  
Police. They might need to call the police. The seriousness of the situation begins to scare me. My body shakes a little bit and my eyes are still fixated outside the window.  
'Takasu.' I look to my left, startled to see Kitamura, my best friend staring at me with a very fierce and concerning look.  
'They're going to find her, so pull yourself together.' He says calmly yet sternly.  
'Yeah...Taiga...' I whisper under my breath. I close my eyes and for a second I imagine her next to me, her fiery personality, and then her soft spot for Kitamura. She's kinda like a tsundere.  
'Jeez, it's really coming down out there.' I recognize the voice and so does Kitamura, we both turn quickly to the left to see Kushieda putting on snow goggles. She's dressed in her pink snow jacket and has a moss-green beanie covering her short red hair.  
'Kushieda... Where do you think you're going?' Kitamura asks, evidently shocked.  
'Outside, to look for her some more.' She replies, staring out the window. I should have known she was going to do this. She's so close to Taiga, they're best friends. And given the circumstances and Kushieda's determined personality, of course, she's going to want to go and find Taiga herself.  
'Like hell you are! What happens if you get lost out there i-' Kushieda cuts Kitamora off staring at us.  
'So what! I can't just sit here and wait!' Her voice shakes a little bit as she looks down.  
'I won't be out there for long, I'm gonna check the place we were at and then come straight back.' She continues.  
'Don't do this.' Kitamura says voice lowering.  
'I'm going with you.' I blurt before I have time to think about what I'm saying. If Kushieda is going to look for Taiga then so am I. The 2 of them stare at me with worried and surprised faces. They both stutter in surprise.  
'Takasu-' Kitamora cuts himself off. Kushieda stares at me her face beginning to relax as she smiles gently.  
'Alright. Ami! We're going out there, let teach know.' He calls out to Kawashima. She glances up at us, her face filled with concern. She jumps out of her chair and yells as loud as she can.  
'No! Wait!' But it's too late, we've already run towards the elevator.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The wind howls outside. It's the strongest I've seen my whole life. As planned, we go with Kushieda to the place we were at. We yell her name through the wind, surname, and first name. Our voices beat the wind. It's mainly Kitamura and I yelling as Kushieda's voice is weaker than ours. Instead, she searches the area for any clues.  
'Takasu! Kitamora!' My eyes dart to Kushieta.  
'Over here!' She points to a steep hill that leads into the woods. The plastic red fence zoning off the area for that particular spot was broken.  
'Look at the fence. Did anyone check down here?' she asks.  
'I don't know.' Kitamura responds. The 3 of us peer down into the dark woods to see if we can see anything. I see a track that starts from the fence and it leads down the hill.  
'W-whats that.' I stutter.  
'What is it? What? You see something?' Kushieda immediately asks.  
'I think. Go back to the lodge, and get help, and hurry.' I say.  
'I'm going too.' Kushieda says starting to walk down the hill. Without hesitation, I grab her wrist and grip it tightly. She stops and turns to look at me, confused.  
'Bu-' she cuts herself off and looks at me. After a second. She nods. Kitamura and her run back up to the lodge, following my instructions, leaving me to go down into the woods by myself. Without hesitation, I start trudging through the snow, in search of Taiga. My thoughts run wild through my head as I search for her. Suddenly a terrible realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I did it again. I left her all alone. She was right next to me and I didn't even notice she was gone. I look at a tree, noticing something gold caught in it. I walk towards the small tree and quickly realize it's the clip I gave Taiga which she gave to Kushieda so the two of us would become closer. I pick it up. Damn it. She is such a klutz. If I find her, I swear I'll never let her go again. I stay next to the tree and look around without moving my feet. I see a small figure about 10 meters away from me, half-buried in snow. I gasp, almost choking on air. I approach it. Cole to the figure, there's blood in the snow and broken snow goggles. I push the snow off the figure to reveal a small girl in a light pink parker and a moss-green beanie like Kushieda's  
'Taiga?' I push more snow off the girl to see long light brown hair.  
'TAIGA!' I yell. She doesn't respond. Her face is covered in scars  
'TAIGA WAKE UP!' I yell picking her up and holding her to my chest. I shake her gently. Hoping that she'll wake up. There's blood dripping from her head. I put my ear next to her chest and hear her breathing lightly and breathe a huge sigh of relief. She's ok. I put her on my back and slowly walk back up the hill towards the lodge. How can someone so small weigh so much? When I reach the top of the hill I call out as loud as I can.  
'I FOUND HER!' I trudge through the snow closer to the lodge and find Haruta, in a robe running towards me. He immediately takes Taiga off my back and carries her back to the lodge bridal-style. He's much stronger than me so it would be best if he took her. Kushieda bolts to me.  
'Is she okay? Where did you find her? Please Takasu she has to be okay!' she cries, grabbing me by the collar and shaking me unintentionally. I stare into her eyes and notice that they are filled with tears.  
'Calm down, Kushieta!'Noto yells. Our homeroom teacher has already called the ambulance and they arrive 2 minutes after I brought Taiga back to the lodge. Haruta helps load Taiga onto a stretcher which is then loaded onto the ambulance. Teach gets on the ambulance with Taiga and so does Kushieta, since she's the one who got the strongest connection with Taiga out of all of us. Being the class president, Kitamura instructs us all to go back inside. Most of the class went to bed. However, Kihara, Nanako, Kitamura, Kawashima, Haruta, Noto, and I sit in the lobby waiting desperately for news. Kihara and Nanako fall asleep on nearby couches at 9 and eventually, Haruta and Noto get tired of waiting so they go back upstairs to bed and carry the girls up there with them. Kawashima, Kitamura, and I sit in silence, the atmosphere being so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Finally, at 10 to 10 my phone rings, and without checking the caller ID I answer.  
'Takasu, come to the hospital now. Teach has called the lodge and they are driving you, Kitamura, and Ami there. I'll text you further instructions including where we are.' Before I can say another word, Kushieta shuts off the phone.  
'Shoes and coats, we're going to the hospital.' I throw Kitamora his coat and grab mine, running out of the lodge. Hang on, Taiga.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
We arrive at the hospital with no time to lose. I run up the stairs of the hospital with Kitamora trailing close behind me. Kawashima takes the elevator since she's not a fast runner. We go to the room Kushieta told us to go to and found her and the teach sitting outside the room.  
Kushieda looks up at us and rises from her seat.  
'What's going on. Update us' Kitamora asks straight away.  
'We don't know. They are checking her condition and only family is allowed in there. Taiga's mum is in there right now.' Kushieda explains. Taiga's mum? I've never met her. Taiga's dad had an affair with a much younger woman and when Taiga's mum found out she left. Taiga's dad treated Taiga terribly so she left before he could abandon her. He pays her to live by herself even though he has custody rights over her. He's tried to make his way back into her life twice now but every time he did he waltzed right back out quicker than he came back in. I've never met Taiga's mum before. I wonder what she's like.  
'Is her dad here?' I ask  
'As if that bastard would show up.' Kushieda says grinding her teeth. She's always been so protective of Taiga when it comes to her dad. Teach finally notices us and approaches us.  
'Hey, guys. Sit down here and we'll update you when we have news.' She explains, signaling the chairs in front of the door. We nod and obey her orders. The hospital is quiet. There aren't as many patients as I expected there to be. At around 11, Kawashima nods off and at around 1, so does Kitamura. It's just me and Kushieda now. Nobody has said anything the whole night. It's somewhat awkward and weird especially considering that I'm with Kushieda. Usually, she's so bright and if we weren't in a hospital waiting for news on Taiga, she's probably be singing made-up songs to pass the time.  
'Hey, Takasu?' she says in a quiet voice, looking at the ground.  
'Yeah?'  
'Do you remember that night at Ami's beach house? On the balcony when we were talking about ghosts and UFOs? I stare at her. It's like her sparkle has faded in just 8 hours. Why is she bringing this memory up now? I push the questions to the back of my brain and answer her question.  
'Yeah, I do.'  
'I think I've seen a UFO without realizing.' I look at her with a perplexed look on my face. I want to cut her off and question her, but instead, I let her continue. She leans back into her chair and looks up at the roof before continuing.  
'It's like seeing a ghost. It's special but somehow more special than seeing a ghost. The rarity of seeing one is insane. I'm the lucky one to have seen one but I didn't even realize. This whole situation we're in has just made me realize it. And by the looks of things, it looks like you got to see a ghost.' My god. This girl is so confusing in a good way.  
'Yeah. It's a good experience that I don't want to let go of.' What am even saying? I don't know but it feels right. She smiles, eyes still on the roof.  
'I don't want to let it go either.'  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
At 15 to 2 a nurse walks out of Taiga's room and stands in front of us. I wake Kitamura and Kawashima so they can hear what the nurse has to say. Kushieda arises, her face telling the nurse to tell her what's going on now. As if the nurse can read her mind she looks at her with a shy look.  
'I think its best we inform her homeroom teacher first-'  
'No. Whatever you want to say to her you can say to me.' She yells, cutting her off. The nurse glances at teach, she nods, giving her a green light to fill us in as well.  
'Well... her lungs inhaled a lot of cold air. Considering how small her lungs are, they aren't in good shape and she lost a lot of blood from the fall down the hill and...' The nurse pauses, looking down at the floor.  
'Tell me what's wrong with her.' Kushieda says, losing her temper.  
'She's in a coma.' Those 4 words echo through my head. "she's in a coma." This is my fault. I should have focused on her but I left her alone again and she's in a coma now. She could be dying for all we know. Before anyone can say anything, Kushieda falls to the ground onto her knees with a thud. I hear her soft cries as they echo through the small hallway. Teach just stares at the ground. Kitamura looks at the ceiling and Kawashima tries to blink back tears. The nurse walks back into Taiga's room without another word. I think of what to do. What Taiga would do. My mind is blank. Without thinking, I plop down onto the floor next to Kushieda and put my arm around her. To my surprise, she grabs me by the collar and starts crying into my chest. I say nothing and continue to hold her. Kitamura stands up slowly from his chair and sits on Kushieda's left, also putting his arm around her. Kawashima immediately squeezes in between Kushieda and Kitamura finally letting the tears roll down her cheeks and onto the floor. We hold each other for what seems like hours until finally, the nurse emerges from the room.  
'We can have people visit her now.' She glances down at her clipboard.  
'Minori Kushieda.' Kushieda looks up with dried up tears.  
'You may go in first.' She nods, slowly getting up and walking into the room. A slim woman exits as Kushieda enters. She's wearing pearl-white glasses and has huge eyebags underneath her dark brown eyes making it obvious that she hasn't gotten much sleep the past 12 hours. Shes wearing a dark blue pencil skirt with a matching blouse and black stilettos. She has short dark red hair in a bob-hairdo. She sits beside me, where Kawashima was sitting before she left to get some air with Kitamura.  
'You must be Ryuiji Takasu.' She says, avoiding my gaze. Although she can't see me, I nod slowly.  
'Yeah.'  
'Thank you.' I look at her, confused.  
'For what?' She finally looks at me, with small tears beginning to form as she blinks them back.  
'For taking care of Taiga. She's very fond of you from what I've heard.' This must be Taiga's mum. Taiga definitely looks more like her dad. I nod slowly not saying anything. This time it's my turn to avoid her gaze. After 10 minutes, Kushieda walks out, looking down at the floor, with a half-smile. The nurse is close behind her.  
'Ryuji Takasu?' she asks me, looking at her clipboard. I nod, getting up from my chair. The nurse gestures me to come inside the room. It's small. The window is shut and is on the left of Taiga's bed which is positioned in the middle of the square room. Her snow gear is neatly folded onto a chair next to the door.  
'Would you like some privacy?' The nurse asks me.  
'Uhm- yes thank you.' I bow. She walks to the door and exits the room, leaving me and Taiga alone. Her scars have been treated. The blood dripping from her scalp is gone and she's sleeping peacefully in the hospital bed, her long hair cocooning her. I sit beside her, staring at her face.  
'Hey.' I'm lost for words. It's always so easy talking to her, but now I don't know what to say.  
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you alone again. I'm sorry I kept paying attention to Kawashima, I'm sorry I never listen to you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' I feel the temperature in my cheeks rising as I blink back hot tears.  
'Don't give up, Taiga.' I whisper  
'Please.' The nurse lets herself back into the room, signaling for me to go out. As I drag my feet out of the room I look back at Taiga.  
'Dragons are the only ones that can stand on the same ground as tigers. Right now, that rule doesn't apply.' I croak before exiting the room knowing that Taiga can hear me.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It's a quiet night after that. The atmosphere feels somewhat calmer. Kushieda and I eventually drifted off to sleep with Kitamura and Kawashima. At 5 am I hear yelling, I wake up and so does Kushieda and Kitamura, Kawashima still sound asleep. There are 2 doctors running into Taiga's room. Kushieda leaps up out of her seat and finds another doctor running into Taiga's room and grabs the doctor by the arm.  
'What's happening!?' She yells. The doctor says nothing, trying to break free from Kushieda's grasp.  
'TELL ME.' He breaks free from her grip. She tries to grab him again but misses causing her to lose her balance.  
'Kushieda!' I yell, helping her to her feet. She runs to the door and starts banging on it.  
'LET ME IN! TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING! TAIGA!' She screams.  
'Kushieda please, let the doctors do their job!' Teach says, grabbing Kushieda by the waist and attempting to restrain her.  
'NO! TAIGA! LET. ME. GO. ARGH!' Her yells echo through the empty halls of the hospital as she attempts to wriggle free.  
'We're losing her! Get the defibrillator... Now!'  
'LOSING HER?! WHAT? TAIGA! I NEED TO SEE HER! I NEED TO HELP HER! PLEASE!' Thewhole thing is a blur from that moment. All I remember is lots of yelling until deafening beep echoes through the halls and the hospital falls silent.Kushieda freezes. Kitamura cups his hands over his mouth. Kawashima beginscrying straight away. We have all just realized that our best friend, themighty palmtop-tiger is gone.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Mum! Watch this I can do a cartwheel!' Taiga Takasu, age 5 runs across the grass before toppling over into a cartwheel.  
'Nice job sweetheart! Try it with a softball bat next time.' Minori Takasu says with a fist in the air as a sign of encouragement. Taiga nods before running ahead of her parents, Minori and Ryuji Takasu.  
'This is it, Taiga. Stop running.' Ryuji says taking his daughter by the hand and leading her to the grave. He places the flowers down onto the grave and sits beside it. Minori lights the candle on her grave and begins to prey.  
'How's it going up there, Taiga? Keep soldiering on! I miss you!' Minori rises from her position and touches the tombstone, slowly running her fingers down the concrete.  
'Hey! She has the same name as me!' Taiga exclaims, pointing at the gravestone.  
'Yeah, she does.' Ryuji says, smiling. He bends down in front of the candle, closes his eyes, and claps his hands together.  
'We miss you Taiga. Make sure you're eating well up there, you klutz.' Ryuji lets a tear fall onto the ground beneath him and smiles.  
'I love you Taiga Aisaka.'


End file.
